What comes to your heart when you hear the word “hope”? 

When I think of hope in the context of my spiritual life, I tend to associate it with Christmas. Yet right now, Christmas is many months in the future and the Lenten season in which we currently find ourselves essentially stands at the opposite pole of the liturgical year. The burgundy of Christmas has subtly become the crimson of the Passion as we’ve moved from the consolation and joy of Christ’s birth to the depth of penance and suffering in the Cross. 

As Christians, we place our hope in the salvation Christ won for us. Christmas is a hopeful time, yes, but our redemption fully came to pass at Calvary when Our Lord died on the Cross. Yet the entire narrative of hope, in fact, began long before even Christmas, with another event that we fittingly commemorate during this time of year: the Solemnity of Annunciation of the Lord on March 25th. 

The feast of the Annunciation is a moment of joyful reprieve during the penance and self-denial of our Lenten walk with Christ. This day is the true feast of the Incarnation, the moment when God the Son took human form in the Blessed Mother’s womb! The Church encourages us to celebrate! Mass on this day is a little extra glorious with Marian hymns, and the Lenten penitence requirement is lifted (bring out that chocolate!). It is an occasion to do something special to mark the joy and grace that comes to us through Mary’s “yes” to God’s plan.  

Right now, 2025 is still in its early months: the Jubilee Year of Hope has just begun. The Annunciation, our first glimpse of the Blessed Mother in Scripture and also the first moments of Christ’s earthly existence, can help us enter into the theme of Jubilee Year through a new light.

What is Hope?

Hope might be one of the hardest virtues to exactly define. It is easily oversimplified into mere optimism or temporal expectancy of the future. What is hope, really?

The Catechism defines hope as “the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1817). In hope, we firmly trust in God’s omnipotent power and mercy, believing that his promise of heaven is trustworthy because his love has granted us access to eternal salvation, which we can indeed attain with his help. Hope allows us to live in light of eternity and to trust that it is possible to reach the joy of heaven by God’s grace. 

The Difference Between Faith & Hope

There is a slight distinction, then, between the virtues of faith and hope. Yes, they are often mentioned together and are closely related, as both are theological (supernatural) virtues. Yet the Catechism defines faith as “the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he [God] is truth itself” (CCC #1814). Faith leads us to believe certain truths not because they can be proven but based on the authority of a God who does not deceive us. 

Hope is rooted in faith and, in a way, is an extension of faith into what we believe about our eternal destiny. Faith is a necessary foundation for hope, for it is the grace that allows us to believe in God at all. Hope begins with our overall firm trust in God, directing it toward matters of our eternal end and salvation. The belief that we place in God’s authority and in his promises brims over into a confident expectation that he offers us abundance in heaven.

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23)

Mary’s Fiat of Faith

The Annunciation reveals Our Lady’s humble faith, expressed in her fiat to God: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Mary assented to God’s will, trusting his word, although she could not fully know what his plan would hold. She did ask a question of the angel Gabriel in response, although not from doubt nor from a predisposition to believe that what the angel announced was impossible. Even in asking for an explanation, Mary maintained a disposition of true receptivity to the miraculous plan of God. 

At the Visitation, St. Elizabeth greeted Our Lady by lauding her faith: “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” (Luke 1:45). These early moments of Mary’s involvement in God’s saving mission point to her “obedience of faith” (CCC #148). Because her belief never wavered in every moment of her life with Christ––even unto Calvary––Mary is truly  “the perfect expression of faith” (Pope John Paul II).

In reality, the Blessed Mother perfectly embodies every virtue of the Christian life because her Immaculate Heart was preserved from all sin and entirely fixed on God. She is not only an exemplar of faith but a beacon of hope, too. And while we might consider faith to be one of the primary Marian virtues of the Annunciation, hope plays an important role as well.

The Annunciation: A Reason For Our Hope

The very core of our hope comes to life in the Annunciation. The angel Gabriel’s words to Our Lady directly underscore the meaning of the theological virtue of hope, when he conveys that Jesus “will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:33). 

In the Annunciation, the basis for our redemption is now no longer a distant prospect but is actualized (becoming incarnate!). This moment contains the realization of all the promises and signs of our Redeemer as heralded throughout the Old Testament: the Annunciation declares that Jesus is the true King who had been expected by Israel through the ages, coming not to instate an earthly kingdom but lasting peace and happiness in eternity. The fulfillment of this promise is what permits us to “desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness (CCC #1817). Our hope is here––held in the moment of the Annunciation! We can now anticipate a new and greater life close to the Lord.

“And hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5)

Mary, Mother of Hope

“Mary also becomes a model of hope for the Church. In listening to the angel's message, the Virgin first directs her hope to the kingdom without end, which Jesus had been sent to establish. She stands firm near the cross of her Son, waiting for the divine promise to be fulfilled. After Pentecost, the Mother of Jesus sustains the Church's hope despite the threat of persecution. She is thus the Mother of hope for the community of believers and for individual Christians, and she encourages and guides Her children as they await the kingdom, supporting them in their daily trials and throughout the events of history, however tragic.” (Saint John Paul II)

Mary is our “Mother of Hope” (Litany of Loreto). We call on her as “our life, our sweetness, and our hope … that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ” (Hail Holy Queen). What does this mean?

Mary is the fulfillment of Old Testament anticipation, foretold in themes and messages as early as Genesis (3:15) and by the prophets (see Isaiah 7:10-14 and Micah 5:1-4). 

Mary is the bearer of our hope, for she bore God himself. Her share in Christ’s saving work and her role as mother and mediatrix make her our surest path towards salvation and beatitude. 

She is the one bright star of light and promise amid our sinful, fallen race. In the words of an ancient antiphon from the Divine Office, Mary is the “gate of heaven and star of the sea” who can “assist a falling people that strives to rise again.” She pleads to Christ on our behalf. Christ gave her to us as a mother and as a true woman who ennobles mankind anew. 

Yes, in all these ways, Mary is “our hope.” And it all began with the Annunciation: where her “yes” granted her an intimate place in God’s work of redemption and opened heaven to believers.

Her Lamp In The Darkness

The theological virtue of hope also defined Mary’s road to the crown and title of humanity’s hope––from her expectation of his birth until his Easter. She did not know what lay ahead of her––after all, the angel Gabriel gave her no specific indication of the suffering ahead––but she truly models a life lived in hope of God’s kingdom: the Catechism’s definition of hope as a theological virtue applies perfectly to her: she “desire[d] the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as [her] happiness” because she trusted the Lord’s promises (see CCC 1817).

Mary placed radical, unwavering trust in God’s promises when she gave her “fiat.” Her maternal heart bore the greatest sorrow imaginable as she journeyed with Christ through his life and even unto Calvary. To quote St. Paul, hope was ever the “sure and steadfast anchor of [her] soul,” even amid utmost darkness (Hebrews 6:19). Most importantly, she held onto hope when the rest of the world had fallen away. Even though Christ’s apostles were shaken and sad on Good Friday and Holy Saturday, the faith and hope in Mary’s heart did not waver. 

This, then, is why it is beautiful that we celebrate the feast of the Annunciation so near the Cross. The hope that became concrete in Christ’s conception carried Our Lady even “through the valley of the shadow of death” (see Psalm 23) of his Passion and preserved her in hope until the greater joy of the resurrection. Mary’s fiat of faith and hope, begun in her moment of joy at receiving the angel’s message, is fundamentally and profoundly connected to sorrow. 

There is even more significance to this alignment of times, for it is traditionally held that Jesus was crucified and died on March 25th (although the date for Good Friday today is moveable). Historical reasons aside, this highlights how every important event in Mary’s life points to Christ! As Benedict XVI reflects in The Spirit of the Liturgy, this suggests a beautiful link between the conception of Christ, his birth, and the Cross for the redemption of all of creation. In coinciding with the sacred days so close to the great feast of Easter, the feast of the Annunciation shines a ray of light into the Lenten season and restores our dear confidence in redemption. 

The Annunciation & The Jubilee Year Of Hope 

Throughout our lives, we increasingly realize how desperately we need redemption, and our hope is keenly challenged by the darkness of this world. Yet the reason for our hope is here––in the beautiful mystery of the Incarnation that became reality at the Annunciation. During this Jubilee Year of Hope of the year 2025, let us delight in the importance of the Annunciation! May this feast day remind us that, no matter the circumstances of our lives, Mary is close to us. Let us ask God to grant us a greater measure of this supernatural virtue of hope in him, and let us seek to learn from Mary how to trust God with confident anticipation in his promise of eternity.

“This woman of faith, Mary of Nazareth, the Mother of God, has been given to us as a model in our pilgrimage of faith. From Mary we learn to surrender to God's will in all things. From Mary, we learn to trust even when all hope seems gone. From Mary, we learn to love Christ, her Son and the Son of God.” (St. John Paul II)

You Might Also Like:

• Whispers of Mary Book 
• The Rosary in a Year Podcast
• She Loved: Resting in the Beauty of Motherhood Book
• Foundations of Faith Catechism Study 

Leila Joy Castillo

Leila Joy Castillo is a freelancer in communications who writes for Ascension, Blessed is She, the St. Austin Review magazine, and more. She is a graduate of Ave Maria University, where she majored in Communications and Humanities and minored in Theology and Marriage & Family Studies. Leila loves her squad of patron saints, Catholic pilgrimage (particularly in the United States), and devotion to the Blessed Mother. In her spare time, she is likely cantoring at her parish church, joyfully conversing with her three wonderful younger siblings, or lost in good literature. Find out more about Leila and her work via findjoyinthejourneyblog.com or on Instagram @leila_joyinthejourney.